No surprise here, since we broadly hinted last week that they would make it. But as we said then, Magic Trick is a magic band, and this was a gorgeous album we intend on playing for a long time to come, especially when melded with last year’s Ruler of the Night.

How gorgeous was it, you ask?

Here’s what we said only last week:

“This is an album that is at once so tastefully tuneful, so catchy and pretty, sweet and bright that we are already making up the seating charts for Holiday parties in the weeks ahead — just so we can play it at dinner! The fire crackling, suckling spam coming from the roti, the claret decorked — oh, the festivities this brilliant disk will get going. It’s going to be a helluva warm’n’toasty finish to 2013, now that said bright platter’s plopped on the old victrola. Download “Salvation” and your ears will respond like you’ve just filled them with melted chocolate that’s been left to cool in the warm breeze of a Baja California night. One song later, when the gorgeous “Bridge of Gold” comes on, you’ll find yourself shushing loved ones while saying not a word. That’s right, you won’t have to tell them what to listen for. They’ll just start nodding their heads to the beat, and will thank you for allowing them to listen.”

There will soon come a time — it may be now — when people quit referring to Magic Trick as the side project of The Fresh & Onlys’ Tim Cohen. For really, when the merits are weighed, the better description is that The Fresh & Onlys are Magic Trick frontman’s Tim Cohen’s side project.

River Of Souls made it in just under the wire, and we would convene the editorial team at Tulip Frenzy World HQ to have a serious discussion of which worthy band it must bump to make it on our pretty much already formed Top Ten List, if only we could get them to stop dancing to the Kelley Stoltzy “The Store,” or nodding their heads to the fun “My World.”

This is an album that is at once so tastefully tuneful, so catchy and pretty, sweet and bright that we are already making up the seating charts for Holiday parties in the weeks ahead — just so we can play it at dinner! The fire crackling, suckling spam coming from the roti, the claret decorked — oh, the festivities this brilliant disk will get going. It’s going to be a helluva warm’n’toasty finish to 2013, now that said bright platter’s plopped on the old victrola.

If ever you want that perfect example of how someone who doesn’t always hit the notes can be said to have a great voice, don’t invoke Lou or Bob. Tim Cohen can either over- or undershoot the melody, but on average his singing’s marvelous, and he long ago learned the pro tip that wrapping his vox in the soft flannel of a pretty girl’s voice, better yet two, would make everyone feel warm inside. We loved last year’s Ruler Of The Night, which sounded like what would happen if the Brian Eno of Tiger Mountain had been kidnapped and fed mushrooms in Mendocino. In fact, we’d venture that “Weird Memories” was our single favorite song of the year. But here’s the thing, River of Souls is better. It’s a smoky, mysterious, sinuous dip into complex folk rock with psychedelic undertones and a soupçon of Beggars Banquet-like country added to the mix.

Download “Salvation” and your ears will respond like you’ve just filled them with melted chocolate that’s been left to cool in the warm breeze of a Baja California night. One song later, when the gorgeous “Bridge of Gold” comes on, you’ll find yourself shushing loved ones while saying not a word. That’s right, you won’t have to tell them what to listen for. They’ll just start nodding their heads to the beat, and will thank you for allowing them to listen.

So we promised Magic Trick that we would wait for River Of Souls, out Tuesday, before locking the ballot box on the Tulip Frenzy 2013 Top Ten List ™. We will save them a spot on the shortlist, okay? Below, in NO PARTICULAR ORDER are the bands in consideration.

At Tulip Frenzy World HQ, the horse trading, lobbying, and outright bribery are in full force. We’ve cast a sideways glance at our competitors, and let us just say that this was one of the rare years in which we did not automatically scoff at the Uncut Top 50 list, and they did settle one thing for us: yes, the Parquet Courts album is to be considered this year, even though it actually was released last November. But no one listened to it until January 1, when we were all suddenly forced to grapple with a) 2013, and b) the Parquet Courts’ greatness. But mbv as the Album of The Year? Please, nice to have Kevin Shields back but it’s not really that good. Still, could have been worse.

We should note that we are NOT considering the Bob Dylan 1969 Isle of Wight release, even though it finally came out this year, and even though it is simply amazing. Why is it ruled out by the judges? Because we don’t think that’s right to knock a band in their prime out of consideration just because another incredible album fought its way out of the Dylan archives. But here’s a pretty great set of bands/artists who will be considered:

Houndstooth

David Bowie

Kurt Vile

Phosphorescent

Crocodiles

Robyn Hitchcock

Parquet Courts

Thee Oh Sees

Kelley Stoltz

Magic Trick

Neko Case

Capsula

Deathfix

Secret Colours

Kevin Morby

Wire

First Communion Afterparty

Mikal Cronin

In consideration: 18 artists. It’s going to be a long few days of wrangling in these here parts. Stay tuned.

From across the Twittersphere… hear Tulip Frenzy’s question echo… echo… echo… came a reply: just wait!

And now we know, as an amazing track, “Come Inside,” has just been posted on Pitchfork, who declaim with authority that the third Magic Trick album, entitled River of Souls, will flow freely to the great big sea on December 3rd. Yes!

This has been a pretty stellar year for new music already, but the final two months will see, at long last, the release of First Communion Afterparty’s Earth Heat Sky, Kevin Morby’s Harlem River, and now Magic Trick’s River of Souls. Normally we despair of the end of Daylight Savings and the coming of winter. Not this year!

Last week, S.F. garage janglers The Fresh & Onlys put out a six-song E.P., their first new music since the Long Slow Dance came out last year. Of course it took us a few days to get to it, given that we took Kelley Stoltz’s Double Exposure,some sandwiches and a jug of water down to the Situation Room, with its massive speakers and comfy couch, only to emerge days later with a smile and a few day’s growth on our face. The new Soothsayer E.P. is further evidence that The Fresh & Onlys deserve to be considered one of the Bay Area’s major league acts, able to hold up their end of the bargain — albeit in a quieter, less propulsive manner than stalwarts like Ty Segall* (whose L.P. with his metal thrashers, Fuzz, is out tomorrow), Thee Oh Sees, and of course Kelley.

But may we issue this hope? Tim Cohen’s principal “other” band is Magic Trick, and to our ears, nothing he’s done with The Fresh & Onlys is as good as Magic Trick’s astonishing Ruler of The Night, which also came out last year. If the pattern was set as one Fresh & Onlys album for every Magic Trick long player, then our expectation is that Magic Trick will now put out more music this year. After all, we know from correspondent reports that Magic Trick played a few weeks ago in San Francisco, even as The F & Ts were gearing up to tour with Tulip Frenzy faves Woods. And all you have to do is compare Magic Trick’s “Weird Memory” to anything by The Fresh & Onlys to grok why we’re rooting for that Tim Cohen project to get cracking.

* We don’t care whether Ty’s moved back to Southern California; he is, like Rice-a-roni, to be permanently associated with San Francisco.